Say Something
by unrequitedexistence
Summary: Tumblr Prompt: Some time after "Goodnight, Gail", Holly finds out she has competition for Gail's affection.


Prompt: Here's a Golly prompt for you: some time after "Goodnight, Gail", Holly finds out she has competition for Gail's affection.

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><p><em>"Goodnight, Gail."<em>

Gail Peck was never good at goodbyes. She never liked their permanency. It felt like a turning of back after a _see you later_ that you know from the start won't ever happen. It felt certain and Gail Peck was never a big fan of certainties. All her life had been about beating the odds that were written out to her from the moment of her birth. Her life had always been about proving that certainty was nothing but uncertainty's twin sister. Everything was still possible. _Open_.

Holly's _goodnight_.

Gail didn't just hear it, she _felt_ it. A _with all my love_ at the end of a letter only half-signed due to the lack of ink and the lack of strength to buy some more. And if it only had been the sound of her voice... her trembling tone... But no. Gail Peck had been standing there, staring at the face that had brought so much light into a darkness that had for so long been her whole spectrum. Holly had brought so many shades of everything into her life and was now walking away. But she wasn't taking them back with her. Instead, she had taken her heart. A world of possibility had been opened to Gail but she had no motivation to explore it whatsoever.

People started to notice. How could they not? Gail Peck seemed lifeless. Even her usual red lipstick was nowhere to be found. She had dropped her comebacks and had started simply rolling her eyes as a response to about every comment. There was not enough strength in her body to care. She was just... _being._

That was what led Traci to start a girls night out thing every single week. And that was what led to this very moment in which Holly Stewart witnessed, without being truly aware of it, Gail's very first _open_ smile ever since the _goodnight_.

Holly had been coming to The Black Penny quite a lot lately. Ever since the whole Gail thing, actually. Strangely enough, ever since she started coming she hadn't laid her eyes on Gail. Not even once. She couldn't help but be worried. Was Gail sick? Had something happened while on shift? If it had, she would probably know, right? They always heard gossip from what happened back at the precinct.

"Earth to Holly! Is anyone home?"

Holly almost dropped the glass she had been holding ever since she had first arrived at the The Black Penny. How long ago had that been? Her arm was starting to hurt. And if that was a clue...

"Claire? Hi. I am so sorry. I didn't see you coming in."

"A penny for your thoughts?" The redhead asked with a wide smile as she set another drink in front of Holly. She made no move to sit down, though.

Claire Lewis was Holly's new boss. She had been transferred from San Francisco due to her achievements. Her curriculum was exemplary and rather frightening, to be honest. She was way too young to be where she was but she _belonged_. Perfectly. Still, at the end of the day, she just stripped down of her work clothes and was back at being her young self. She was also stunning, her green eyes and easy smile so enchanting one just couldn't look away.

"I am afraid they are not worth that much." Holly said with half a shrug, her eyes falling down to the drink that had long ago won over the ice's heart, making it melt into it.

"Then let them go. Why are you wasting your time over something not worth it?"

Oh, if only she knew. They were not worth that much, just _everything_, really. Ever since the _why are you saying all these words_. She was the one who felt not worth it, not worth Gail. She had to fight hard not to laugh out loud at the irony of that single thought. Lisa had never been so wrong and so right in her entire life.

"You have a point."

"Don't I always?" Claire's tone was as upbeat as her wink. If not taken in controlled doses, it would become rather... intoxicating. Perhaps not in a good way.

"And another one. Would you care to join me?" Holly finally asked, trying to distract her brain by testing the toxicity levels of her boss' personality.

"Oh, I certainly would but I have a date and I am rather optimistic about this one." Claire leaned against the table slightly. Her body language was asking Holly to press on and _why not_? Digested food for thought.

"Oh really? Do share."

"Newest detective at 15th. Terrifying personality. So quick on her feet I might trip on my own to catch up. I have a feeling I will fall plenty of times but it will be so very worth it."

_Gail._

Claire Lewis, her new boss, had just described the woman who had just walked in. Her eyes met her silhouette and Holly let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding, but felt like she had, ever since she had walked away.

_Goodnight, Gail._

There she was. Gail Peck walking towards her table, smiling in her direction. Gail, with her blue eyes as clear and as deep as an ocean, smiling in her direction, walking in her direction. Just not at her. Or to her.

_At Claire. To Claire._

She noticed how Gail lit up at the sight of Claire, at the sight of another woman that wasn't her. Holly's free hand came to unconsciously form a first under the table.

"Hi."

"Gail, hi! We were just talking about you!"

"All bad things, I hope."

That was when Gail acknowledged Holly's presence for the first time since she had reached her table. Holly's heart was throwing itself against her ribcage, begging to be let out.

Holly had to break eye contact or else she would probably just throw herself at the woman who had so many times said she had made her want to be a better person. If only Gail knew how much she too had changed Holly... how she had made Holly fight for herself and what/who she loved, like she had never done before. She had _opened_ her... to herself.

They had become a better person together.

_Goodnight, Gail._

"Of course not." Claire said with a theatrical laugh that was followed by the movement of a hand soon to land on Gail's arm.

Gail's flinch was almost imperceptible. _Almost_.

Holly couldn't help but smile at Claire's answer. Her naivety was starting to show. She had yet to learn how to play Gail's game. Or to know what Gail's game was. She kicked herself mentally for finding herself rooting against the couple.

"The place is packed tonight."

The Black Penny was indeed looking pretty full and so, not sure she would be able to bear any more touching between the two anyway, Holly put her glass down, the drink she had yet to touch, by the second one that Claire had brought her.

She wanted Gail to be happy. More than anything else in the whole world. But she wanted happiness for herself as well. And that meant Gail. _But_ _I'm all_ _about __growing these days_.

_"And I  
>Will swallow my pride<br>You're the one that I love  
>And I'm saying goodbye"<em>

"You can have my table. I was just heading out, anyway."

"Oh no, please do stay, Holly."

It was quite a courteous _please go way_, Holly had to commend the younger woman for that. She nodded politely and was about to stand up when she felt a hand wrap around her fist under the table.

"Stay."

Holly looked down at their joined hands and then up at Gail, brown meeting blue once again.

"Are _we_ waiting for anyone else?" Gail asked as she eyed the two drinks in front of Holly.

"Not unless you are."

Gail _openly_ smiled. This time at her. And Holly laced their fingers under the table attentively, her eyes never leaving the blue ponds she found herself drowning in.

_"Say something I'm giving up on you  
>And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you<br>And anywhere I would've followed you  
>Say something I'm giving up on you"<em>

"Good." Gail squeezed her hand softly and then let go, reaching for one of the two drinks.

Holly didn't know in what page that left them, but at least they were back on being in a book together, perhaps even on the same page.

And for now that was more than enough.


End file.
